New groups tapped to bolster Franklin County job training

Wednesday

May 24, 2017 at 5:51 AMMay 24, 2017 at 5:51 AM

Rita Price The Columbus Dispatch @RitaPrice

An abandoned building in the King-Lincoln district will soon become a new hub for workforce development and entrepreneurship programs through the Columbus Urban League, one of four agencies set to take over employment services that had long been provided by the Central Ohio Workforce Investment Corp.

COWIC, as the workforce agency is known, was not successful in its bid to continue operating the local OhioMeansJobs Center.

Contracts are being finalized for the jobs center at 1111 E. Broad St. to be run by ResCare, with additional career services provided by ResCare, the Urban League, Goodwill Columbus and Jewish Family Services, said Lisa Patt-McDaniel, president and CEO of the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio.

"Where we hope to see improvement is in making sure the whole county is served, so that all job seekers or people looking to improve their situations have easy access to the services we can provide," she said. "Our numbers should be higher."

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther revealed the Urban League's expanded workforce role Tuesday during a gathering to celebrate the transformation of the eyesore building at 780 Mount Vernon Ave., just across from the Urban League headquarters on the Near East Side.

Too many residents, Ginther said, have yet to share in the city's progress. They need good, living-wage jobs, and the Urban League's new Huntington Empowerment Center will be designed to help provide a path.

The 6,500-square-foot building is to house business-incubation initiatives, a high-tech learning lab for youths and adults, and My Brother's Closet, the Urban League's social enterprise and clothing boutique for low-income men.

Huntington Bancshares jump-started the project in 2012 with a pledge to donate $1 million over three years as part of a plan to bolster job training, small-business growth and financial literacy. Other supporters, including the city of Columbus, have since contributed to the $1.7 million restoration project.

"We're beyond excited," said Stephanie Hightower, president and CEO of the Columbus Urban League. The project should be completed next summer, in time for the city to host the National Urban League conference.

The agency also has submitted a bid to the state to become a minority-business assistance center, Hightower said. "We've heard from a lot of minority-owned businesses. They want a hub."

The shift away from COWIC, meanwhile, was set in motion in 2014 with the authorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. That federal legislation aimed to reform the public workforce system, mandating the establishment of local workforce development boards that are separate from the agencies operating the jobs centers.

"COWIC was everything — the board, the jobs center, the career-services provider and the business-services provider," Patt-McDaniel said. "At the federal level, they really wanted to be performance-driven. How do you do that when you're the one holding yourself accountable?"

The Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, headed by Patt-McDaniel, will oversee a budget in the coming fiscal year of about $6 million. It accepted proposals from several agencies, including COWIC.

The board expects the OhioMeansJobs center to remain on East Broad Street for now. ResCare — a workforce agency that already contracts with Franklin County — will operate the center, and the other agencies will provide services as the Workforce Network of Central Ohio, Patt-McDaniel said.